THE Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) on Monday called on President Muhammadu Buhari to rescind his government’s proscription of Twitter in Nigeria.
The group made the call in a statement signed by its President, Dotun Oladipo, and General Secretary, Danlami Nmodu, on Monday.
GOCOP said the suspension of Twitter is a major setback for online publishing and other businesses which rely on the social media platform for mass circulation and marketing of their businesses.
“We believe this suspension will ruin our businesses and shrink the democratic space,” the statement said, adding: “Even more, this action will leave many social media handlers who work full time doing legitimate businesses jobless. This will compound the already troubling unemployment situation in the country.
“We believe this action is more injurious to the survival of Nigerian young business entrepreneurs who rely on Twitter.”
According to GOCOP, the suspension is a major setback for information dissemination, growth of the media, information technology sectors among others in Nigeria.
“We note that there are also millions of Nigerians who use Twitter to ventilate their democratic right of freedom of expression responsibly. The suspension clearly shrinks the democratic space.”
GOCOP therefore called on the President to explore alternative means of relating with Twitter to resolve whatever misunderstanding that have arisen.
